BIGGEST LOSER?? Not.

Just a couple of moments ago, the latest person boosted from The Greatest Loser TV show was on the Today Show. I've never seen The Greatest Loser, but I've seen the promos for it, so I kinda know how it works. This woman had continued to lose but was still voted off.

She has lost a lot of weight, but the key, she said, was the changes in her lifestyle. One thing she said struck a cord with me. "I make myself important" by making exercise a priority. She works out at the gym and walks.

Yep! She makes herself important.

How many of us do not do this? Many I think. Other things always crop up to get between us and the things we should do for ourselves.

Putting on my walking shoes is not the first step in making myself important. It's an early step, but not the first. The first step is giving myself permission to put other things on hold so I can make myself important.

This is how the Twelve Steps work in my life. I have to make this selfish program a priority in my life - not working it for anyone else. I attended my first meetings because of others in my life. But 14 years later, I return again and again - usually twice a week - for myself. It's not about them.

When I first began walking - really making it a habit where everyone around me knew it was going to happen every day - it was because of some external cues. My weight, my arthritis, my inability to continue playing racquetball. Those were all things about me - but my motivation was to 'cure' things.

Walking won't cure arthritis, won't make me lose weight by itself, didn't take away my longing for racquetball. But, it did force me to become my own 'Life Coach'. I no longer had the structure in my life of having to be at the racquet club by 9:30 most mornings. For a disorganized person like me, that structure was helpful.

The very day I determined that my daily walk was more important than the laundry, or my kid's lost book, or bills to pay was the day I made myself important. Wish I could recall the actual date. I would celebrate it every year as a sort of birthday. It was the birth of my self-awareness that if I don't take care of me:
a) no one else will
b) i won't have the physical or emotional resources to take care of those around me.

Every step is a tiny part of keeping me important. Are you important?


***************************Remember my 100% GUARANTEE. Should you decide to stop walking and resume your old habits, I personally guarantee that you'll get back 100% of your former life - your pain, your lifestyle, your attitude. You can trust the information you find here. It's from a dedicated walker. Trust me and your life will get better! I promise.